Increasing your productivity

Finding time to write is one thing, using it effectively to get your words written is quite another. If you often find yourself getting to the end of a writing session only to realise you’ve written fifty words in the last hour then, unless you are writing poetry, you probably want to improve your productivity.

As a writer, as with any other job, you improve your productivity by achieving more in the time you have. That might be writing more words, finishing more writing products or doing other activities that generate more income. Below are some ways you can instantly improve your productivity.

Focus on a single task – whatever you are working on stay focused only on the task in hand and stay working on that task for at least twenty-five minutes (unless you have less time than that available). Whether you frequently switch tasks or try to complete two tasks simultaneously multi-tasking reduces productivity and increases the likelihood of making mistakes. Switch to single-tasking and you will achieve more in the time you have available.

Turn off your mobile – messages, e-mail social media, on-screen alerts, and not forgetting the occasional phone call. All will distract you, engage you, and steal your time – your writing will not get done. Turn your phone off and hide it. You do not want to be tempted to pick it up, not even once, whilst you are working. If you are writing for long periods of times put your phone, on silent, in another room and check it during your break periods only.

Plan your time – don’t wait until you have some time before you write, plan your writing time and diarise it. Prioritise your writing and writing related activities and then plan other non-essential tasks around these rather than finishing everything else and then doing your writing in the time you have left.

Plan your projects – whether a book or other writing project ensure you create at least an overview of the scenes or sections you intend to write and of the tasks you need to complete. Preferably create a detailed plan so that you always know what you need to write, what you need to do and when you are going to do it.

Clarify your goals and objectives – be clear about your writing goals and break these down nto objectives with a deadline. If you are writing a book you might have the goal of completing that book within six months. You can break this down further with deadlines for each scene or section, for completion of the first draft, final edits and, if you are self-publishing, publication. Write down all your targets and deadlines and you are more likely to achieve them.

Stay healthy – often forgotten until it is too late. Look after your health to ensure you remain focused on your tasks, can work the hours needed to complete your projects and don’t have periods of time when you are unable to write due to avoidable illness or injury. Eat well, drink plenty (of water) and exercise.

If you would like further hints, tips and techniques for improving productivity for writers then take a look at my new book Productivity for Writers: How to get more done, write more words and createmore time to write. This book is available on all Amazon sites.

NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month

If you are participating in NaNoWriMo next month then now is an excellent time to start planning. As this stage you can plan and develop your idea, identify your main characters, plot your novel and set aside your writing time.

Remember that you are aiming for 50,000 words. This is a first draft so you do not need to worry about typos, grammar, finding just the right word or sparkling dialogue - you can work on these when you edit.

Start with developing an idea - you might already have one in mind, if not take some time to explore sources of ideas including newspapers, historic events, existing novels, traditional children's stories and personal experience. Once you have a basic idea you can explore other aspects such as setting, characters and motivation - use "what if?" at this stage - what if the male character was female?, what if a specific historic event occurred today?, what if there was a thunderstorm instead of sunshine?

Once you have developed your idea look at plot and characters - which you work on first is likely to depend whether your novel is plot driven or character driven.

Plan a scene by scene outline of your novel - include as much detail as you need ensuring you highlight aspects that are imperative to your story. For example a sudden rainstorm may result in a character being late for a meeting and losing an important contract.

Create character profiles - the better you know your characters the easier it will be to write about them.

You will find many posts on this site detailing how to create character profiles and how to plot a novel, you could also look at Write it! How to write your book in 30 hours or less (just right for NaNoWriMo).

Writing a first draft in one month is an excellent way to kick-start your novel and take you a step closer to completion.

Happy writing.

Free eBook Available from Amazon

The ebook version of Daily Writing Prompts is available as a free download today and during this weekend. It contains thirty prompts for you to practise your writing and help you develop the habit of writing every day. If you prefer you can purchase the paperback version which has space for you to write your responses to each prompt, you can take it with you wherever you go and use those free moments to practise writing

Click here to download from Amazon.

Happy writing.

Format your Book for Print or eBook

In the second book in the Write It series - Publish it! - there is step by step instructions on how to format your book correctly to ensure it either looks the way you want it to when printed or displays correctly when read on a Kindle or other reading device. If you want your readers to enjoy your book then it is important to get the formatting right and makes changes to the formatting when preparing your work for different publishing options.

I was reading this article on why you should care about formatting and found it answered many of the questions often raised or mistakes made including using hard returns to add spacing or force text onto a new page. It is well worth a read. Click here to read the article.

If you would like more information on formatting have a look at Publish it! How to publish your book for free using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), CreateSpace and Smashwords. You can download a sample for free and check out the content.

Happy writing.

The Snowflake Method

If you follow the Write it! Publish it! Sell it! Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/writepublishsell you will know that I regularly recommend books on different aspects of writing. I while back I downloaded a sample of Randy Ingermanson's book How to Write a Novel with the Snowflake Method. Before reaching the end of the sample I had purchased a copy. I had come across this method before and liked the approach however what prompted me to recommend the book was the way the technique was woven into an entertaining story using familiar characters.

At the time I bought this book I was partway through writing a novel (I had an outline as that is the way I prefer to work) so I attempted to apply this technique to my work. It really helped me to focus on the purpose of each scene and I ended up cutting out some large chunks before I had spent hours perfecting these scenes and then cutting them in the final edit.

Yesterday I came across this interview, it is well worth listening to.  Randy Ingermanson interview. 

If you are an aspiring or established author have read of this book and give the method a try. It won't take up too much time and you could find it genuinely helps you progress your writing. Click here to see book on Amazon.

Writing Competitions

Writing competitions are a great way to practise writing within constraints such as theme and word count. Many competitions have prizes such as cash, books, publication deals or writing courses. Some competitions provide feedback on the quality of your entry. Even if you don't win you will have a completed story, article, poem or start of a novel that you can submit to printed publications, online magazines or even self-publish (always check the terms and conditions to ensure you retain the rights to you story if you are unsuccessful). There may be a cost to entry although this need not be expensive.

To get you started take a look at the TXTLit Micro Story Competition at http://www.txtlit.co.uk/ and Literature Works' First Page Comp at http://www.literatureworks.org.uk/

Happy writing

Your Writing Place

You may read many articles and blog posts, including posts on this site, on setting up a workspace that supports your goal of becoming a productive writer. The advice given is valuable and will make a positive difference, however it is important that not having an ideal workspace does not become a barrier to achieving your goals or an excuse not to write regularly even when you do have the time.

One effective approach is to identify a space that you use only to write and nothing else. No checking emails, no research, no catching up on social media, no admin and no planning. Just writing. It does not matter where this space is, although minimising distractions will be an advantage. It could be a desk in your bedroom, the dining table, a fold-up table and chair in your sitting room, or even a lap tray used whilst sitting on the sofa or bed. It does not matter if you use this space for other writing or non-writing activities at other times as long as this space becomes your writing place, and nothing else, as soon as you open your notebook, laptop or tablet. If you do undertake other writing activities in this space then use a prompt to ensure your mind knows this is writing time and not admin time. This could be something as simple as placing an object – a stone, notebook, inspirational quote, or photograph of a favourite place – on the table.

Once you have decided on your place then develop the habit of writing continuously at least once a day, before long your mind will learn to automatically switch into writing mode as soon as you sit down. When you sit down ensure you know what you are going to write, not necessarily the actual words but which scene or article you will be completing. Don’t worry about getting the words exactly right at this stage, that can come when you edit. Just type, or handwrite, whatever comes into your mind. You might start off thinking you are writing rubbish – just keep writing. Amongst the words will be some real gems, everything else can be polished.

Adopt this approach and, within thirty days, you will find that every time you sit down to write your mind will switch off from all the other things that need doing – real or perceived - and you will be able to focus entirely on getting those words written, in other words you will be in flow.